Smart Cookie: Sugar Dayne Finds a Sweet Spot in Hermosa Beach

When Kate Metoyer’s son Miles went off to kindergarten, she suddenly found herself with a lot of time on her hands. “We were at a friend’s house up in L.A., and I saw a plate of decorated sugar cookies,” she remembers. “I had never baked or decorated a cookie or anything for that matter. But that night I went home and started watching YouTube videos and realized that there is a whole entire world of decorated cookies.”

“As time was healing me, I decided to get out and do things again, live life, be happy … make cookies.”

She admits she was horrible at first, but she soon turned baking into a daily hobby—taking orders from friends and family. When her dad passed away in 2014, she started channeling her grief into creating cookies.

“It was basically the only thing that gave me comfort,” she says. “My style was starting to evolve, and I truly believe my dad had a part in that. He was always my biggest fan.”

People started to notice. Soon Kate was taking custom orders and making thousands and thousands of cookies in her certified home bakery. While attending CookieCon in 2015, she decided to enter the Sugar Show and ended up winning the Designer’s Choice Award—gaining momentum in the cookie world and on social media.

“As time was healing me, I decided to get out and do things again, live life, be happy … make cookies,” she shares.

Every time she would ride past the Chef Wang’s space, she threw some positive energy at it and said, “One day that place will be mine.” Two years later, she found out they were closing.

“I also believe that my dad was nudging me forward from above, saying, ‘This is your time … what do you have to lose?’ Through a series of random happenstance, the spot was officially mine.”

With a thriving business and a new commercial space that she refers to as a cookie “studio” rather than bakery, Kate has taken Sugar Dayne (named after her other son) to the next level. Daily she serves up her original sugar cookie recipe with a hint of almond—each decorated with colorful icing and patterns.

Of the new venue she says, “I wanted to create a space where the kids could come down for a treat after school or on Saturday mornings—like I used to go when I was a kid growing up in Hermosa.”